It’s important to age disgracefully
Channel 5, 7pm
ROALD Dahl lives on though his fantastic tales but just when we thought there’d be no more incredible stories comes a great new children’s book inspired by the mischief and magic of the man himself.
Never Grow Up is a new picture book with full colour illustrations by Quentin Blake who brought so many of Dahl’s characters and creations to life.
A celebration of wild children and rule breakers everywhere, Never Grow Up encourages readers of all ages to embrace the boundless joy of childhood.
It focuses on a ‘more unusual child’, the kind that ‘paints their tongue, then scrapes their knees….then fills their underpants with bees’!
Drawn from the prankish humour and ethos of Roald Dahl, it begs to be shared by adult and child, and is a timely and timeless reminder of the kind of childhood we might want to create for our children.
Underlying messy adventures too is the desire for children to grow up to be inventive, creative, caring about nature and thinking outside the box. Even if ‘being bold is never breezy’.
This is a fabulously fun and special book, the likes of which we thought we might not see again – but it’s wonderful that we can – championing the Dahlesque opinion that the best grown-ups never grow up, always down.
Shot on five continents, this fascinating documentary follows all the world’s frontrunning vaccine research teams from the moment the pandemic hit.
“We knew it was going to happen, it was just a question of when,” says Professor Katie Ewer, above, of Oxford University, just one of the scientists working intensely on a vaccine.
From the moment Covid-19 was identified, a small band of scientists jumped into action to tackle one of the greatest medical challenges of our time. It’s an extraordinary story of triumph, following the intense pressure as scientists designed the vaccine, trialled it and manufactured it, achieving in just months what usually takes more than a decade.
From its origins with a barrow boy on an East End market stall, through to the supermarket giant it’s become, this is the inside track on Britain’s biggest retailer.
During the most difficult time in Tesco’s 101-year history, this series looks behind the scenes in some of its 3,627 stores. From shop floor to the CEO, there are interviews with staff who talk through how Tesco coped with being thrust into the eye of the Covid storm, struggling to feed the nation.
Jason Tarry, CEO UK, says: “It was impossible to keep up with what was happening. I’ve never seen panic buying like it.”
In this first episode, the store’s humble beginnings are also examined.